1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to physiological biometrics, including automated fingerprint/palm print identification systems (AFISs), and in particular to a system and method for scanning and editing fingerprint data.
2. Description of the Related Art
Physiological biometric data is used in forensic science to identify suspects, victims and other persons. For example, fingerprints collected from a crime scene, or from items of evidence from a crime, can be used to determine who touched the surface in question. Fingerprints are the primary source of physiological biometric data used for identification purposes today. Fingerprint identification emerged as an important system within various law enforcement agencies in the late 19th century. This system replaced anthropometric measurements as a more reliable method for identifying persons having a prior record, often under an alias name, in a criminal record repository. The science of fingerprint identification stands out among all other forensic sciences for many reasons, including its superiority and reliability.
Fingerprint identifications lead to far more positive identifications of persons worldwide than any other identification procedure. The U.S. government alone effects positive identification of over 70,000 persons daily. A large percentage of the identifications, including approximately 92% of the U.S. Visit Program identifications, are affected in a computer identification process with high accuracy based on only two fingerprints from each individual.
Fingerprint identification is the process of comparing questioned and known friction skin ridge impressions (e.g. minutiae) from fingers or palms or even toes to determine if the impressions are from the same finger or palm. The flexibility of friction ridge skin means that no two finger or palm prints are ever exactly alike (never identical in every detail); even two impressions recorded immediately after each other. Fingerprint identification occurs when an expert or computer system determines that two friction ridge impressions originated from the same finger, palm, toe, etc., to the exclusion of all others.
A known print is the intentional recording of the friction ridges, usually with black printer's ink rolled across a contrasting white background, typically a white card. Friction ridges can also be recorded digitally using a technique called live scan. A latent print is the chance reproduction of the friction ridges deposited on the surface of an item. Latent prints are often fragmentary and may require chemical methods, powder, or alternative light sources in order to be visualized.
When friction ridges come in contact with a surface that is receptive to a print, material on the ridges, such as perspiration, oil, grease, ink, etc. can be transferred to the item. The factors which affect friction ridge impressions are numerous, thereby requiring examiners to undergo extensive and objective study in order to be trained to competency. Pliability of the skin, deposition pressure, slippage, the matrix, the surface, and the development medium are just some of the various factors which can cause a latent print to appear differently from the known recording of the same friction ridges. Indeed, the conditions of friction ridge deposition are unique and never duplicated. This is another reason why extensive and objective study is necessary to achieve competency in fingerprint identifications.
There exist systems known as automatic fingerprint identification systems (AFISs) for accomplishing automatic authentication or identification of a person using his/her fingerprint. Search programs such as the Tracker product line by AFIX Technologies Inc. of Pittsburgh, Kans., the assignee of this application, can be used to take a fingerprint image and conduct a search from a major database. A fingerprint of a person comprises a distinctive and unique ridge pattern structure. For authentication or identification purposes, this ridge pattern structure can be characterized by endings and bifurcations of the individual ridges. These features are popularly known as minutiae. These automatic authentication systems include the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Automatic Biometric Identification System (ABIS), which is able to search all ten finger positions, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS). In order for a forensic fingerprint scanning system to be able to submit latent submissions to either the ABIS or the IAFIS, certain qualifications must be met.
The methods of U.S. Pat. No. 5,420,937, which is assigned to a common assignee and is incorporated herein by reference, provide relevant background regarding AFIS systems and methods commonly used to search major fingerprint database records to find results, and also provide a unique and useful approach to performing such a search within a fingerprint database using state-of-the-art techniques.
Although image editing software exists, and the capability to scan images of fingerprints onto premade forms also exits, presently there is no simple method for scanning fingerprint images onto a form that has already been created to comply with national database criteria, or designed completely with the idea of fingerprint scanning in mind. Present image scanning software is not tailored to use with fingerprint photo enhancement, and therefore has a number of confusing image editing properties that are unnecessary and unhelpful when submitting a fingerprint for searching within a database.
Heretofore there has not been available an AFIS with the advantages and features of the present invention.